By Pierre V.L. Dupuch
April 10, 2012
What some people will do to get a vote never ceases to amaze me! It is now being said that Bran McCartney has been “black listed” because he opposes the Marital Rape Law. Join the club McCartney, I too do not believe in passing laws that cannot be enforced. The Marital Rape Law happens to fall in that category.
Do you have to dislike women to disagree with such a law? To the contrary, my very high regard for women makes me disagree with it. Let’s see what I think about women. My mother and my wife are, in my opinion, two of the greatest women to ever walk this earth.
My mother chose the highest profession in life, motherhood. After raising her family she also worked at the Tribune. It was she who, with the help of a ruler, tamarind switch, and a leather strap, raised six of us. She was the disciplinarian in our family. Whether she was successful or not history and the record will show.
I never looked on her as inferior or superior to my father; they complimented each other. I will never forget one evening asking my father to use the car. Suspecting that I had already asked my mother he said: “what did your mother say?” Feeling very embarrassed I answered that she had said “no.” “Well,” he said, “why do you ask me?” They were one.
My wife, like my mother, chose a dual profession, motherhood and she worked at our office. At work we follow the standard managerial procedures; at home we are one. She raised five of our children. I am proud of them all. And although I was the disciplinarian in our family I am very quick to tell you that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world!!
Here is an example of two families. On the one hand, the mother is the disciplinarian, on the other, the father. It’s what works for a family that counts. There is no such thing as one being the “boss” or being better than the other. If the partners don’t compliment each other, the family doesn’t exist.
In public life I ran in six elections. In 1962 I was 24 years old and was a candidate. I lost. Geoffrey Johnston and A.D. Hanna won. I ran again in 1982, 87, 92, 97, and 2002. I won all of them. Some of my most successful campaigns were run by women. The 1997 election stands out more than any. At the very last minute, Hubert Ingraham gerrymandered my boundaries so badly that had it not been for Dr. Mary Ritchie I would have lost. She took over my campaign, pulled my fantastic team together, and won the election by several hundred votes. I sometimes wonder what this country would be like if great women like Dr. Mary Ritchie were still alive!
A woman has a right to join any profession she wishes, and she should not be treated differently than a man. Its a non-starter to say that because of her gender she should be paid less. My daughter-in-law is a doctor. Why should patients pay her less than her husband who is also a doctor? Why should a female lawyer be paid less than her male counterpart? Yes, it’s a non-starter. Should a female politician be paid less than a male politician? Obviously not!!
The Vietnam War was the first time reporters were allowed in the front lines. What impressed me most was that virtually every time a reporter would put a microphone in front of a soldier in the trenches and ask him who he would like to say hello to, the soldier would say, “hi Mom.”
After all, a mother carried that child around in her womb for nine months. A man cannot do that. It is said that a mother has influence on a child even when it’s in her womb! Yes, it is true that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.
Now let’s go back to marital rape. Yes, it’s wrong. But in court you have to prove it! So prove it. A smart husband would get in touch with a certain perverted FNM lawyer who would put his wife in the witness box and, under cross examination, literally undress her, make her feel less than a woman, and dirty.
And what would the verdict be? Innocent. What would the after effects be? Disastrous for the wife.
But the Marital Rape Bill may stir up emotions sufficiently to get some votes, won’t it? Do the people pushing this Bill really care about women? I do. And I suspect Bran McCartney does also.
